Lucinda Childs Dance Company : CONCERTO
Professor Drabik, I apologize for my abrupt, extreme, unqualified statement that the music accompanying the first dance was horrible. I took the time to listen to a recording of a 1980 performance of Mr. Górecki’s concerto today. I admire the overwhelming volume of the orchestra and the ceaseless fugue on the harpsichord. There’s passion expressed in this music, and it is expressed well. I also discovered what I heartily, passionately disliked about how the dance group handled this passionate piece of music. It sounded like they took a snippet of it and choppily and glaringly looped it. Was it intentional, a workaround for an unexpected failure, or simply a lack of attention to the music? I suspect it was intentional, but then why?
Here’s a demonstration of the choppy looping they did:
I hope you now understand why I was disgusted with the music–not because of the musical content, but rather because of how it was arranged / excerpted.
Semperoper Ballett Dresden : NEUE SUITE
I saw in this performance a progression from classical to modern dance. I can see the emphasis it placed on physical interaction by the sinuous movement of the first dancers.
Sébastien Ramirez & Honji Wang : AP15
This is the dance that I have no reservations about. Everything flowed naturally–the music was smooth and the pair of dancers were fluid. I haven’t seen many forms of dance before; all the performances I saw yesterday are new to me. This dance, however, caught my attention more than all of the others before it because of the complexity and the precise execution of the choreography. It was great.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater : MINUS 16
“The illusion of beauty
The fine line between madness and sanity
The coexistence of fatigue and elegance”
Is the nonconformist insane or sane?
I noticed that as the anthem wore on and the nonconformist kept falling over, the music developed more and more of a minor chord in its undertones. I think that symbolizes some kind of degeneration. So, which group is mad, the conformists to a degenerating system or the nonconformist? Or, is this a false dichotomy–in which case both groups could be insane to different extents?
I’m really interested in delving into the political undertones of this performance. It was completely hidden from my eyes while I watched the scene unfold. How clever!
I personally didn’t think the music for the first segment was bad. I actually thought it was fine, but the dance was a bit messy. I don’t know if maybe I just had a hard time to follow it, but the dance was a bit disorganized for me. I’m not saying it was bad though, it could just be a distinct style. After all, this is post modern, and it should be very liberating!
~Christopher Chong
The first segment of the dance was probably my favorite. I enjoyed both the intensity and the arrangement of the music. Even listening to the excerpt you posted here, I can’t help but think of it as a powerful piece. In response to Chris, I had an almost opposite opinion of the “messiness” of the dancing. I found their symmetry beautiful. The dancers were always perfectly mirrored about a central point and their movements reflected accordingly. It was an eye-opening display of synchronization.
Josh, I completely agree with you. The first performance was easily my least favorite, as everything about it seemed rather repetitive and redundant. After the first loop, I had already seen the entire performance, or at least that’s how it felt. I also agree that they did this intentionally. But as you can see from the other comments here, there are people that liked this performance, so there are other people out there with different tastes. I do agree with Shahrouk in that this performance was a great display of synchronization, but as I said it seemed to repeat itself.
I recognize the symmetry found in the first dance! I think the music was very good in terms of content; I revise my statement even more to say that the music was simply annoying in its arrangement, but still quite appropriate to the dance and still a very good piece in terms of energy and intentional dissonance.
I believe the first dance was pretty good because all the dancers were energetic and you could even see the breathing heavily during a break in the music. However, the best part was the last performance. I did not see any conformists or nonconformist like you Josh. I just saw dancers doing a great performance, but the guy that kept falling over did annoy me. Moreover, when the dancers took people from the audience, I was impressed at how well everyone was able to keep up with the vigorous dancers.
Each of the performances were truly great and interesting to say the least! We each notice and perceive different aspects of the dance, and none of us are wrong. We simply like and pay attention to different things that interest us and that’s what makes us who we are. And as Professor Drabik said the other day, “How boring it would be if we all liked the same thing?!”
Hi Joshua,
Regarding your thoughts on AP15, I agree that it was marvelous and fantastically executed. It certainly had an easy flow to it and was visually appealing.
Lucinda Childs’s dance seems to be drumming up the most talk here, so I’ll chime in with my thoughts on the matter. I agree that it was rather repetitive at moments, but as Shahrouk mentioned, there was a real beauty to their level of synchronization. If this dance was written in words, it would read like a poem with repeating verses – each one structurally important to the whole, though seemingly excessive.
Those are just my thoughts.
-Nabila